Vancouver-produced Rick and Morty nabs Emmy nomination

The nominations for the 2018 Primetime Emmy Awards were announced yesterday (July 12), and among the list of TV hopefuls is Vancouver-produced animated series Rick and Morty.

The show earned a nod in the category of Outstanding Animated Program after submitting "Pickle Rick", an episode from season three where one of the titular characters literally turns himself into a pickle to escape family therapy, for consideration. It faces Big Hero 6: The Series, Bob's Burgers, South Park, and The Simpsons for the award.

All production for Rick and Morty, including asset builds, backgrounds, layout, posing, and animation, is done at Vancouver’s Bardel Entertainment. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, the absurdly smart series has been a fan favourite on the Adult Swim network since it premiered in 2013, and is now being recognized on the big stage.

The entire program is hilarious, but "Pickle Rick", which first aired in August 2017, is a highlight. After mad scientist Rick transforms into a pickle in that episode, he falls into a sewer and must create mechanisms out of animal remains, such as a rat exoskeleton, to survive.

Once he returns to level ground, he ends up at the therapy session that he was avoiding, where he's able to obtain an antidote that returns him to his human form. Inspired by a Breaking Bad episode titled "4 Days Out", the instalment is filled with action and gore.

This is the first Emmy nomination for Rick and Morty: a show that, on paper, has dumb ideas, but manages to execute them in clever and interesting ways. The series has been confirmed for at least several new seasons—after getting an almost unheard-of 70-episode renewal contract from Adult Swim last May—though no premiere date has been set.

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